You are here: Home / Publications / Low Habitual Dietary Calcium and Linear Growth from Adolescence to Young Adulthood: Results from the China Health and Nutrition Survey

Low Habitual Dietary Calcium and Linear Growth from Adolescence to Young Adulthood: Results from the China Health and Nutrition Survey

Fang, Aiping; Li, Keji; Li, He; Guo, Meihan; He, Jingjing; Shen, Xin; & Song, Jie. (2017). Low Habitual Dietary Calcium and Linear Growth from Adolescence to Young Adulthood: Results from the China Health and Nutrition Survey. Scientific Reports, 7(9111).

Fang, Aiping; Li, Keji; Li, He; Guo, Meihan; He, Jingjing; Shen, Xin; & Song, Jie. (2017). Low Habitual Dietary Calcium and Linear Growth from Adolescence to Young Adulthood: Results from the China Health and Nutrition Survey. Scientific Reports, 7(9111).

Octet Stream icon 2589.ris — Octet Stream, 1 kB (1780 bytes)

Evidences from clinical trials and meta-analyses of calcium supplementation in linear growth have given conflicting results, and few longitudinal studies have investigated the long-term associations between dietary calcium and linear growth, especially in the population with low-calcium plant-based diets. We investigated the prospective associations of low habitual dietary calcium with adult height and height-for-age z-score (HAZ) from adolescence to adulthood among 2019 adolescents from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS). The average dietary calcium intakes were 426(standard deviation: 158) mg/d in boys and 355(134) mg/d in girls during adolescence. During a median follow-up of 7.0 (interquartile range: 5.9–9.0) years, boys reached an average of 169.0(6.7) cm and girls reached 158.4(5.8) cm in adulthood. After adjusting for other potential confounders, non-linear regression found that boys with dietary calcium intakes below 327 mg/d had shorter adult stature, and those taking over 566 mg/d had faster height growth whether adjusting for physical exercises level or not. No significant associations were found in girls. Our study suggests that in boys with plant-based diets, higher dietary calcium intake during adolescence is associated with faster height growth, but not with adult height; calcium intake below 300 mg/d may result in shorter adult stature.




JOUR



Fang, Aiping
Li, Keji
Li, He
Guo, Meihan
He, Jingjing
Shen, Xin
Song, Jie



2017


Scientific Reports

7

9111











2589